its great you wanna do cloth
if you research it its much better for baby to have no nasty chemicals down there!:P
NB's do use alot of nappies. if you change asap after a wet or dirty nappy (as for cloth or disposable) it is probably closer to almost 20 nappy changes a day at the start!!
so you could double your figures right there. if you wash twice a week its only 2 extra loads of washing which honestly doesn't cost much (and you use half the amount of powder per load). if you look up/google the 'well womans nappy' page it has cloth vs disposable costings and they are actually ones that dont include unnecessary chemical soakers and use of iron and dryer like the ones the disposable companies put out!:P
bummis prefolds definetly can be used as booster, pocket stuffers.
"I guess I will always have them for the next child or can sell them. " ~very true.
you could wash baby clothes together but if you use cloth fulltime you could just do full cloth loads. some fabrics dont wash well together. terry pills onto fleece for example.
MCN'ing is not heaps of work compared to soaking, pinning, etc. its really only the same as normal washing an extra 2 loads per week. im not sure i would be as willing at all to use cloth if thats all there was, like in your MIL's day...
yup dont just buy one brand in a bulk package incase you dont like it (not that you couldnt onsell..)
i hardly ever use my dryer. the nappies last longer if you dont. i mange with those airer racks infront of the heater in winter and put them outside in summer.
yep you will work out what you like by 6 months.
the berryplush is basically a minky pul cover with a minky topped hemp prefold in it. i find the insert moves about to much for us. you could use normal prefolds in it instead to cut costs.
um umbilical cord can take 2 weeks. not sure about what nappies for that one - i guess you could manuovre prefolds/wraps to the right height fairly easy
nappycino is also a good cloth website/forum if you havent found it already. also ozcloth nappies.
hths. enjoy your cloth journey!